 |
| Dutch Marriage Fan Vellum with Mother-of-Pearl Guards and Carved Battoire Sticks Featuring Painted Medallions Created: 1770 Presented to Queen Mary: 1893 Crown Copyright The Royal Collection Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II |
When we think of antique hand fans, we usually think of those produced in France or England. However, fan-makers in the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century were producing high quality fans which rivaled those of the French. Dutch fans often had a golden glow about them because of the use of yellow-toned vellum for the leaves. Such is the case of this fan made in Holland in 1770. The vellum leaf is supported by carved sticks and protected by identical mother-of-pearl guards. The fan’s leaf is painted with a mythological scene of Mars falling in love with Venus.
 |
| Crown Copyright The Royal Collection |
Queen Mary (of Teck) amassed a tremendous collection of antique. Many of them were purchased from auctions, others were given as gifts, and others still came from Mary’s favorite occupation of admiring her friends’ possessions and then waiting for the friend in question to give her the object she admired. This fan, however, came to Mary as a gift on her wedding day to the soon-to-be King George V. It was presented to her in 1893—as a symbol of her love for the Prince—by the Honorable Mrs. Halford.
 |
| The Reverse Crown Copyright The Royal Collection |
No comments:
Post a Comment